Cheryl Edwards’ resume says she obtained a law degree from Syracuse University in 1980.
It doesn’t say she was disbarred in 1996 for using a client’s escrow account to pay her office’s rent.
Her resume, which details a career in the District of Columbia government from the finance office to the department of health, was strong enough for her to obtain a job in the scandal-stricken charter school system.
It doesn’t say that she is the niece of Rollie and Gwendolyn Kimbrough, who founded Jos-Arz Therapeutic Public Charter School.
Jos-Arz was shut down last year, taking tens of millions of public dollars with it, and is now the center of a federal fraud investigation.
Board of Education President Robert Bobb hired Edwards last month as executive director of the charter school office.
She is paid more than $81,000 per year.
She succeeds Brenda Belton, who was fired in October after being accused of using a series of companies to shuffle money to her friends, family and herself.
Belton is a member of Delta Sigma Theta, and some of her contractors also were members.
Edwards is also a member of Delta Sigma.
Bobb told The Examiner on Tuesday that he didn’t know about Edwards’ background when he hired her, but he learned later about her disbarment and her relationship withthe Kimbroughs.
“I have confidence that she can do the job,” Bobb said in a phone interview. “She has had a stellar career in the District of Columbia.”
Edwards declined requests for an interview.
For critics of the charter schools, Edwards’ hiring is typical of a system where clout counts more than competence.
“How can Robert Bobb not know that?” said Gina Arlotto of the Save Our Schools Coalition, a nonprofit group that advocates for traditional public schools. “Seriously, doesn’t anybody do a Google search anymore?”
Stung by the Belton scandal, the board voted last year to give up control of its 18 charter schools.
The Public Charter School Board, a separate agency that already oversees 37 schools, is likely to take over.
Anyone with information on the D.C. schools can call Bill Myers at 202-459-4956 or e-mail [email protected].
